The Lovely Bones

So i had been looking forward to this for a long time, and then the reviews started coming out about how bad it was and so on. so to my surprise i actually loved it.

it is a very good story told with brilliant subtlety. it is effectively two films roled into one. you have the one film revolving around the real life events of susie salmon and her family and the aftermath of her murder, a brilliant suspense thriller as they try and track down the killer, all the while as an audience member we get to see the murderer as well as the hunt for him. a note here on just how brilliant Stanley Tucci is as George Harvey - the loner who killed susie salmon for self pleasure. a brave decision from a very talented actor.

the other part of the film is following susie salmon in her after life - "the inbetween" as she has yet to progress to heaven until she sees her family and friends resolve her murder. in this part Peter Jackson is seriously flexing his weta workshop special effect muscle, and admittedly some of it is a bit gratuitous, but it does look rather beuatiful.

the film beautifully builds up the tension up to the point where they finally start closing in on the killer. and for me it was genuinly edge of the seat stuff.

glorious

4 stars

The Wolfman

what an absolute mess of a film. There are good performances from Benecio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt, but they are lost amidst a confusing weak and distorted script and story. one of my main problems with is the lack of tension, even though it is desperately trying to create some. The moments where the scary jumpy bits are suppossed to be, mainly when the wolfman is attacking people, come and go as if nothing has happened - they are literally the least jumpy bits of film jumpy bits i've ever seen in a film.

It also doesn't help that when they are in their "wolf form" del Toro appears to stay in his normal human clothes and walks around on two feet - so that he bears more resemblance to michael j fox's teen wolf than anything remotely scary.

There is no character arc or developement throughout the whole film, there doesnt seem to be any developement with del toro specifically even though he becomes a werewolf during the film, but all the characters pretty much remain the same. Plot holes are skimmed over as if they never happened, and the whole thing is a big jumbly mess.

1.5 stars

Precious

well this is one of the most hyped films so far of 2010. and although it doesn't dissapoint i don't think it reaches the heady heights that the hype would have made us believe. the film centres around a fat black girl growing up in poverty in harlem, she has a real shit life - sexually abused by her step dad, bullied by her mum and other kids on the estate, two kids and cant read. oh and she is HIV positive. it is a tough story, about a very tough character, in fact the character is so tough and so closed off due to the harsh realities that surround her that i found it hard to connect with her emotionally as a viewer. the perfomance is so closed - which i believe was perfect for the character - but it did become problematic in allowing us into her psyche and her emotions.

a quick mention about m'onique - an absolute powerhouse performance. a truly horrific character played with brutal authenticity. shocking and awesome. if she doesn't get an oscar it will be a travesty.

4 stars

Single Man

what a beautiful looking film. the style is absolutely luscious, the attention to detail is sublime. and Colin Firth pulls off a brilliant performance as George the grieving boyfriend of Jim. i do not think this is a great film though, it dragged a little through the middle, there is not much story to tell yet they still manage to drag it out. but you get the sense this film is not so much telling a story but telling an emotion which it does through the cinematography and the costumes. i am never one to really notice costumes in a film, but i felt they had as much importance in this film as the characters did.

Firth gives a performance that breaks the mould from his Richard Curtis nice guy image, here portraying a real man, really suffering. Nick Hoult as his young flirt interest is also annoyingly good, annoying because i hate him, and wanted to hate him in this film. but i didn't, unfortunately.

3 stars

Youth in Revolt

Youth in revolt. A good funny film. Michael Cera does the same job as he ever does with the awkward geeky guy character. The film is about the pursuit of a geek in pursuit of attaining his virginity with a fit girl he meets whilst he is on holiday, not the most original story. In order to get the girl he becomes an alter ego called Francois an uber cool french student who smokes ciggarettes and is as rebellious as they come who makes our loveable geek, Nick Twisp, win the girl of his dreams.

this is enjoyable enough stuff, it does get a little surreal at points when the alter ego first appears, but this keeps you on your toes and keeps the film from falling complete;y into the forgetable teen virginity losing rom-com bracket. good fun.

3 stars

Invictus

oh dear, oh dear. old Clint Eastwood, directing Morgan Freeman in a bio-pic about the great Nelson Mandela. should have been awesome - Oscar gold. its a shame then that they didn't choose a part of his life that had any relevance whatsoever. When you think of Nelson Mandela i can guarantee that you don't think of the rugby world cup in 1995, why then did they choose to make a film of this part of his life is beyond me - it's not like the Mandela is lacking in any interesting other parts in his life. the film ambles along trying to make it all grandeur and emotional but in the end there is nothing to it, its a film about an old man following a rugby team winning a few games. the script is clunky and overdone, spelling everything out, subtlety it seems, did not exist in post apartheid South Africa.

such a shame, a biopic directed by eastwood about one of the greatest men alive today should have been great at the very least good. i'll give it two stars just because the Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman do very well with very limited source material.

2 stars

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Well what a load of old nonsense this is. It is basically a cheap rip off of Harry Potter (note the same director Chris Columbus), but instead of wizards they are sons of Greek gods, living in normal life. The story and characters are rushed and flat, the kid actors give it a fair crack of the whip but ultimately they are still outstandingly poor. This may have something to do with a weak script and storyline, so predictable it is insulting.

The only saving grace here is the fact that I believe it is ultimately a very good premise for a film – the idea that Greek gods are amongst us in modern day life I think gives great scope for an entertaining film, but this is so cheaply done it is a bad, bad watch.

1 star